Chicago, 1964, School boycott ("Man dreams of himself as a human being then turns and kills his dream." Lillian Smith.)

Marion Palfi, artist

1907–1978

Chicago, 1964, School boycott ("Man dreams of himself as a human being then turns and kills his dream." Lillian Smith.), 1964

Portfolio/Series title: Civil Rights: That May Affect Their Hearts and Minds

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 26.8 x 35 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 10 9/16 x 13 3/4 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 16 in

Credit line: Gift of Marion Palfi

Accession number: 1973.0162

Not on display

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Separate and Not Equal: A History of Race and Education in America

Ten years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Palfi continued to capture the state of the Civil Rights Movement through her candid photographs. She was the first photographer to arrive in Greenwood, Mississippi, to document the town’s civil unrest, including a powerful moment in which the African American community joined hands to sing “We Shall Overcome” following the destruction of the voter registration building. Her
photographs were later used by the United States Department of Justice to bring lawsuits aimed at eradicating segregation in Greenwood and surrounding Leflore County.
Palfi also documented the famous Chicago school boycott, during which 200,000 high school students stayed home and 10,000–20,000 marched to protest the continued segregation of public schools. Discriminatory housing codes and carefully drawn boundary lines meant most schools in Chicago failed to integrate in any meaningful way, even a decade after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling made school segregation illegal.